30. Vasile
Chapter thirty
Vasile
I close the door behind me. Should I trap myself in a room with Tamesis? Perhaps not. But I don’t want to risk anyone walking into this unprepared.
Besides, I wanted him in close quarters like this, didn’t I? I can’t complain when I get what I want.
“Tamesis,” I say, voice icy. “You’ve been playing this game for a while.”
“Longer than you’d believe,” he replies. I hear, past the door, the sound of people arriving.
Tamesis shakes his head. “Do not worry about them,” he says. “They won’t intrude. Not unless I tell them to.”
And he won’t. We both know he won’t. He likes to be unpredictable—and he often is—but he always relishes a chance to play with his food. I shake my head, pushing off from the door.
“Kieran will be here soon.”
“And the rest of them, I imagine,” Tamesis says. “You know, I did not intend to take so many of your vampires. I knew they’d be useless to me. But when I got there, you were gone, so…”
He flashes me a smile. The terrible thing about him—well, among so many other terrible things—is how charming he appears at first glance to those unsuspecting. On that battlefield, so close to death…
I knew he was something else. I could never have suspected, precisely, what he was.
“I had somewhere else to be,” I say. “They won’t come in here?”
“I told them I wanted some time alone with my turn. The vampires understand. The wolves are…” He wrinkles his nose and sits up a little straighter in the chair. “Well, you know how they can be.”
“And the mages?”
“Mages?” He all but spits the word. “There’s hardly a mage left after everything the fae did. The witches I found are near useless in comparison. Of course that doesn’t matter. You won’t win this fight, my warrior. Not the way you wish to.”
I lower myself into one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. Dragging him into an argument won’t help things, and I have questions I want answered.
“I never expected you to reforge our bond,” Tamesis says, leaning forward a little. “For the longest time, you’ve acted as though you wanted nothing to do with me. As though you didn’t care.”
Might as well be honest. “I needed you to pay attention to me.”
He processes the words. Nods. “I always pay attention to you, my warrior.”
“You’re the one who won’t win.” He doesn’t react to that beyond tilting his head slightly to one side. “You didn’t win last time, did you? Either time?”
“What a strange conclusion to come to, as I appear to be here and whole.”
“And how many times can you do that again? Have you told any of your mages they have to give you fae blood when we kill you?”
Something shifts in his eyes, making them even darker.
“Don’t forget, I already have the upper hand, my warrior. You—all of you—have weaknesses. Weaknesses are easy to exploit. That’s what I’ve done. And when I kill the human, we’ll all know the seer was wrong.”
He knows what Kieran’s father told us, then. I shake my head. “You took three vampires. Do you know how many people want you dead? It’s more than just three of us.”
Tamesis shrugs carelessly. “Does that matter? There are always people who want me dead, Vasile. Always people who want us dead. The point is to eliminate those who might actually follow through with it.”
“You haven’t killed me yet.”
“No. I suppose I believed I hadn’t truly lost you.” He lets out a heavy sigh, propping his chin up on one hand. “But now I realise how wrong I was. I lost you the moment you set eyes on that wolf, and I cannot figure out why.”
No point in answering that. He knows just as well as I do. He’s trying to bait me, and I’m not going to fall for it.
“Why did you wait?”
“What?” He frowns at the change of subject. “Wait for what?”
“To kill Kieran. You tried when he was a child, but he killed you. How long did it take you to come back from that?”
Tamesis smiles again. “Not that long at all to come back, but of course, I suppose you know that quite well now. But something like that… it takes it out of you. And his father was clever, at first. He wasn’t certain I was out there, but he knew how to hunt me.”
“He did?”
“Not directly. I retreated. I knew what I needed to do, and it just meant the list of people I needed to dispose of had grown a little longer.”
“You let Drew go.”
Tamesis hums. “I have nothing to fear from him. He’s soft. Weak. Takes after his mother, though she was careful not to scream when I killed her.”
“And Kieran?”
Tamesis’ eyes glitter and he leans forward again. “He’s a warrior. Just like you.” His gaze sweeps over me. “If I didn’t already have you, and if he didn’t have that pesky wolf blood running through his veins, I would have turned him.”
I fight a shiver. Kieran would have fought him more than I ever did.
At least it’s not a reality we have to deal with.
“Anyway,” Tamesis says. He leans back in the chair again, looking as though he has all the time in the world to have this conversation. “How does it feel? Coming back to life?”
“You—”
“I know Lazarus killed you. When we went to the clan, I was looking for you. I wanted you as bait, my warrior. What is more poetic than that? My beautiful monster, on his knees, drawing in all the people he would have massacred centuries ago because they believe they care for him now.” He lets out a contented sigh before he frowns. “But when I arrived, you were already gone.”
“He let you in,” I say.
“Of course he did. It’s much easier to get in when you have someone who knows all your sneaky little entrances. He went in the night before, too, to set a scene he knew would have you running back to investigate. And you did. Did you believe he wasn’t working with me? I’m certain you figured it out.”
“I knew… something was wrong.” I shake my head. How much time has passed since I came in here? Are the others on their way? “But I didn’t know he was still alive.”
“Yes, that whole thing with framing your vampire for his death was convoluted, even for me,” Tamesis says. “But I was furious when we arrived and I realised you were gone. Then I realised he wasn’t there, either. At first, I thought he had simply grabbed you himself and taken you back for me…”
“But I wasn’t there.”
“No.” Tamesis smiles again. “He was waiting for me when I returned, your vampires in tow. Kneeling in the centre of my bedchamber, as though I would see him and be overcome. He told me what he did. That he killed you so easily . I was… disappointed.”
“In me?”
“In both of you. I killed him, of course. In my defence, I was ever so angry. I tore his heart from his chest and left him there to bleed.”
I swallow, my throat dry. He’s not simply boasting.
I’ve seen him do it before.
“So Lazarus is dead.”
“And you are not.” Tamesis’ gaze lingers on me again. “Maybe that is a sign of something.”
“You’re still going to kill me.”
“I am.”
We’re both silent for a moment. Tamesis gets to his feet with a speed I’m not expecting, and I feel almost dizzy as I stand, too.
Will Lark’s blood help me to kill him here? He told me to trust my instincts when it came to using it, and—
“Your wolves are here,” Tamesis says. “Ah, so many of them. You really did try to fit in, didn’t you?”
“I—”
“It doesn’t matter.” His eyes flash gold, and our bond flares. My stomach twists in response, but when I try to lunge forward, I can’t move.
“Tamesis—”
“I’ve had much more practice at controlling bonds than you have, my warrior,” he replies. He rounds the desk, and my heart pounds as he comes closer. Have I miscalculated? Will he kill me here?
He tips my chin up with gentle fingers, the leather of his glove soft and supple against my skin. I don’t like being this close to him. I can too easily see the true predator he is.
“Ask me the question you want to ask.”
“What are you going to do with the vampires you took?”
“I’m going to kill them, Vasile. You know that.”
“You—”
“I took them at first because I was angry. Then one of the wolves told me that the little vampire I’d taken is mated to the mage. And then… Then I felt our bond. Ours . And I knew nothing less would bring you back to me.”
“What if—” I take a deep breath, which seems to be about all the movement he’ll allow, and force the words out. “What if I come with you again? What if things go back to the way they were?”
I try to project genuine curiosity down the bond, the possibility that I might not be lying.
Tamesis is many things.
He’s never been a fool.
He tsks, and his grip on my chin tightens. “You know I can’t trust you now, my warrior. Never again. I don’t mind that you killed me, you understand. That’s to be expected. But to drain your sire? How little you must think of me.”
Disappointment curls in my stomach.
“You’re right about one thing, of course. This is where it will all end. Here, now, tonight. I have no desire to play this game any longer.”
“And what about after?”
“After?”
I frown. “What are you going to do after you’ve won?”
This smile is cruel, and it’s the first one I truly believe. “I’ll take it all, Vasile. I’ll burn everything to the ground, and I’ll take whatever I like.” He leans in until our faces are a breath apart. “After all, who’s going to stop me?”
He holds himself there for a moment, then leans back again. His eyes sweep over me, head to toe, and I try to feel for the bond, to see what he’s thinking.
Magic buzzes in my head. It’s too loud. Too much.
“Come along,” Tamesis says. He clicks his fingers and moves past me, opening the door. He doesn’t usher me ahead of him. Why would he?
I can’t attack him. All I can do is follow.
“They’re here?” I ask. He’s allowing me to talk, but I don’t know why.
“Of course. The human, the mage, the wolf.”
“Wolf?” I know Kieran is bait, and as soon as I realised Adam had been taken, I knew Sam would insist on joining him.
“Your wolf, my warrior,” Tamesis says. He looks back over his shoulder at me, eyes glittering. “You wouldn’t want him believing you truly died, would you? Let him die knowing that you made it. That you lied to him.”
He doesn’t say again , but I see it in his face. I didn’t tell Deacon about Tamesis before. And now… I still think it was the right choice to connect us together again, to ensure Tamesis’ attention was off my mate, but he’s not wrong.
I lied again. I had others lie for me.
Gold floods my vision. I stumble a step and Tamesis growls. His hand moves, fingers twitching, and the magic in him wraps around my limbs, keeping me on course.
But now…
Lark’s magic is still there, still waiting for me. There’s not a lot of it, and I can tell it’s not mine , but it buzzes under my skin like it’s anxious, like it’s itching to be uncaged and let loose.
Tamesis pushes open the door, and it slams back against the wall. I’m a few steps back, and I can’t see anyone. I hear their heartbeats. Kieran’s is steady. Sam’s fast.
And Deacon’s… I feel his, too.
The magic in me surges up all at once, forcing back what Tamesis is using to keep me compliant. His steps falter and I move before I can second-guess myself.
No finesse. I need to kill him.
I lunge before he can react and tackle him around the waist, sending us both crashing to the floor.